Cold Star Project

By Jason Kanigan

The Cold Star Project digs into the challenges of scaling fast that tech and Space manufacturing founders encounter. Money does not solve all problems--so what now? Listen in to discover what scaling problems you'll be running into soon, and get a serious advantage in starting to solve them before they run you over!

Dr. Paul van Susante comes with the heritage of the Colorado School of Mines, but is a professor at Michigan Technological University. He is well-known in the Lunar and Mars construction & ISRU field, contributing to CLASS and as co-Investigator on several experiments.
On the Cold Star Project with host Jason Kanigan we discuss:
what properties and result of the lunar regolith Paul is focusing on
how his background in robotics and mining terrestrially, and at the Colorado School of Mines, applies to the new environments of Luna and Mars
details of projects he has worked on
the Mining INnovation Enterprise (MINE), which Paul founded
what the Planetary Surface Technology Development Lab is all about
factors and considerations, materials and processes, he believes are most important for next steps in ISRU on the Moon and Mars.
Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science (CLASS) website: https://sciences.ucf.edu/class/
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Founder & Principal at Space Law & Policy Solutions Michael Listner is on the Cold Star Project. He's also author and editor of The Precis, a space law quarterly briefing letter. Our subject of discussion is Realpolitik and space law, and I ask Michael about:
where he finds himself most often with another interpretation, either conceptually or with the letter of the law, with other space lawyers
what clients are seeking when they approach his firm
what he believes is at issue regarding the White House's April 6th Executive Order regarding space resources--Michael called it "posturing for the space resources food fight and a pushback against the [Hauge] Building Blocks"
the standout issues of space law from his perspective, with regard to commercial operations
whether international safeguards exist or not to avoid war, as nation states move to use space resources and occupy space locations
who are some key people Michael follows in the space field.
Space Law & Policy Solutions website: https://www.spacelawsolutions.com/
The Precis page: https://www.spacelawsolutions.com/the-pr-cis-.html
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Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

Gary Calnan, co-founder & CEO @ CisLunar Industries out of Denver CO, is on the Cold Star Project. They're on a mission to create industrial capabilities in cislunar space that will enable sustainable space exploration and a permanent human presence beyond Earth. To make this a reality, their goal is to create the Space Foundry: the first in-space capability for recycling metal already in orbit and reprocessing it into refined raw materials for in-space manufacturing and construction.
With host Jason Kanigan, Gary explores:
at what point (or number) a “permanent human presence” beyond Earth exists
what “industrial capabilities” he believes need to be developed first
the purpose, elements and implementation plan of the Space Foundry
his recent proposal to the ISS NL (“Electromagnetic Control and Manipulation of Liquid Metal in Micro-g”) - what legal issues Gary foresees for capturing and recycling metal already in orbit
what he believes it will take to reach a point of in-space manufacturing and construction
whether the development of manufacturing and refueling capabilities on the moon impacts in-space efforts more or less than developing in-orbit capabilities.
Cislunar Industries on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cislunarindustries/
International Space Station US National Lab website: https://www.issnationallab.org/
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Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

Dr. Troy Howe joins host Jason Kanigan on the Cold Star Project to discuss the ways Howe Industries is using NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) grants to innovate in space.
We cover:
What is Howe's SPEAR project and the NIAC-supported objectives - How the NIAC grant proposal process works
What project milestones look like
How a new thermocouple design by Howe could extend mission lifetimes
What other smallsat technologies Dr. Howe believes need to be developed so the upcoming Europa mission can be successful
Could the approximately six year process from founding his company through achieving grant approval been sped up, or is this pace simply typical?
What does the Center for Space Nuclear Research, where Dr. Howe was for four years as a research scientist, focus on, and what was he most proud of in his work there?
NIAC Phase-1 SPEAR Probe info page: https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2019_Phase_I_Phase_II/SPEAR_Probe/
Howe Industries website: https://www.howeindustries.net/
Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

PhD candidate and Co-Chair of the 2019 Caltech Space Challenge Fabien Foyer is my guest on this episode of the Cold Star Project. This is a fascinating event and I wish I could have had the chance to participate, but I'm far too old. Fabien describes the Challenge, which is free and open to students all over the world.
Links:
Website: http://www.spacechallenge.caltech.edu/
YouTube Lectures channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC61nwlhQpl9Dw_b0SOjaHqA
Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

Jason Kanigan of Cold Star Tech speaks at the first "Make Space Boring" virtual conference. His topic is lowering the awful 40%+ partial plus full mission failure rate of small satellites.
The recordings of the rest of the event and speakers is available at https://coldstartech.com/msb2conf
Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

Founder & CSO of AAC Clyde Space Craig Clark is on the Cold Star Project, and our topic is how Clyde has strongly contributed to the pioneering of the UK small satellite industry. With host Jason Kanigan, Craig shares:
what the most important thing he learned from 11 years as a team leader at Surrey Satellite Tech was
a snapshot of the UK space industry...where he believes its principle expertise or competitive advantage is, and where it is headed
what he learned on the UK’s Space Leadership Council, and what impact he believes the Council has
how Clyde minimizes the smallsat field's awful 40+% partial plus full mission failure rate...what he has learned about refining quality assurance to produce cubesats in bulk without compromising reliability
what the most challenging thing at the moment is, given that getting people together to manufacture something is not easy to achieve
the mission he is most proud of so far, and why.
AAC Clyde Space website: https://www.aac-clyde.space/
Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

Buy Then Build author Walker Deibel is on the Cold Star Project, and host Jason Kanigan is asking some tough questions. Rather than building a business from scratch, Walker recommends buying an existing business with a proven market that's interested in what you want to sell. We discuss:
What Walker says when people have the belief that you must have lots of cash available to be able to buy an existing business
What the biggest “yeah but” is he's encountered from people who have read the book
What Walker recommends to do when you’ve found a business where one partner is eager to sell, but other partners are not
When a mechanism like a leveraged buyout is a bad idea
Why operations as a topic isn't covered much in By Then Build, while the “math of the business” is well covered
What sort of problems company owners approach him about helping them fix, and whether they often have the wrong idea about what you do, or are typically “pre-sold”.
Four opportunity quadrants screenshot: https://coldstarproject.com/deibelquadrants
Buy Then Build on Amazon (NOT an affiliate link): https://coldstarproject.com/buythenbuild
Buy Then Build website: https://buythenbuild.com/
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Past Deep Space Industries CEO Daniel Faber today runs a company called OrbitFab. As a pioneer of space mining and resources development, what is Dan doing now? Kickstarting the next massive new space economy by creating "Gas stations in space", that's what!
With host Jason Kanigan of the Cold Star Project, Daniel Faber discusses:
how he got into asteroid mining as a business, and what the process was like getting the concepts and people of DSI together
if DSI had gotten the tech and finances in place to start mining Near Earth Objects, what the first thing would have been that Dan would have wanted to do with those resources as they were brought back and processed
what he would do differently if he had it to do all over again
OrbitFab's mission and whether any "legacy goals" from DSI continue
his educational experience in Antarctica and how that affected his point of view in the space field
and more!
I was impressed with Dan's experience with building space companies with investors...it's a minefield and he has some powerful knowledge of what to avoid.
OrbitFab website: https://www.orbitfab.space/
Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

David Barnhart is the Director of the Space Engineering Research Center at the University of Southern California; CEO and co-founder of Arkisys, and a former DARPA program manager. On this episode of the Cold Star Project, we're looking at David's history of robotic concepts in satellite construction. With host Jason Kanigan, David Barnhart explains:
how he helped develop satellite design-synthesis tools to cut design time down to days from months, and how he expresses the impact of these time savings
the way he developed hybrid robotic concepts for satellites with DARPA, including robotic assembly and repair craft
the Phoenix Project he managed at DARPA to create assemble-able satellite modules, and how these could be used
what the most misunderstood idea about DARPA that people have is
the focus of Arkisys and what he's learned as CEO.
Arkisys website: https://arkisys.com/
Playlist: https://www.coldstartech.com/play
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Head of Sales & Marketing for CubeSpace Benoit Chamot is on the Cold Star Project, and with host Jason Kanigan we're looking at attitude determination and control systems (ADCS) for satellites. We discuss:
how Benoit earned Masters degrees from both Lausanne and MIT, and the projects involved
the critical ADCS system for satellites, and the components they're made of such as sun sensors, reaction wheels, PCBs
why CubeSpace chose to focus on reaction wheels, designing and manufacturing their own CubeWheel product
why the company encourages South African space industry and opportunities for young engineers
CubeSpace website: https://www.cubespace.co.za/
Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

Dennis Wingo, Founder & CEO of Skycorp Inc., has a lot of wisdom to share about the space industry. He's the author of “Moonrush: Improving Life on Earth with the Moon's Resources”, and calls himself a Technoarcheologist.
With Cold Star Project host Jason Kanigan, Dennis discusses:
what the term "advanced mission planning" means for him, and what it looks like in action
the concept of orbital assembly, and how it can be achieved
the DARPA/Skycorp Time Domain Relative Navigation System (TDRNS) project
the space logistics system he created and licensed to Orbital ATK for extending the life of satellites
his thoughts on the April 6, 2020 US Presidential Executive Order regarding the use of space resources
economic reasons for returning to the Moon.
Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

USAF JAG and space lawyer Bryant Baker, JD, is on the Cold Star Project with host Jason Kanigan, and our topic is the future of space law. We're looking at it from the US perspective and how we can proceed with the possibility of minimizing conflict.
Bryant discusses how he got into the space law field, and how governance can be created through practice.
Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

How did the Soviets beat the Americans into space with the launch of Sputnik?
Dr. Andrew Aldrin, Director of the Aldrin Space Institute and ISU Center for Space Entrepreneurship at Florida Tech, did his PhD in Soviet studies. In doing research and interviewing people involved, Dr. Aldrin developed a unique perspective on the the topic which he shares here with Cold Star Project host Jason Kanigan. It is a story that will surprise you: entrepreneurship in the most unlikely of places.
Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

Nicole Shumaker, Research Specialist at Texas A&M, is in a unique role focusing on identifying opportunities for and developing synthesis in lunar construction methods. What gaps are there in the field between research, institutions, business and government? That's the key question Nicole is continuously answering, bringing people together in lunar construction efforts who may otherwise have not known the other existed.
Resulting from her effort is acceleration of research and technology development in lunar construction. Nicole meets with host Jason Kanigan on the Cold Star Project to discuss her work and developments in lunar construction methods.
Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science (CLASS) website--see Programs and Seminars tab for recorded and upcoming lectures: https://sciences.ucf.edu/class/
NASA ISRU page: https://www.nasa.gov/isru
Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

Luc Maisonobe of French company C-S is known as "the father of Orekit". This open governance low level flight dynamics library is used by many private and government organizations worldwide to identify and track space satellites.
Luc Maisonobe joins Cold Star Project host Jason Kanigan to discuss:
how the idea of Orekit was conceived
the way the technology required for Orekit was identified
where the data for Orekit comes from
what Luc would do differently now from a process perspective compared to the project's beginning
whether Orekit will evolve into a different kind of program, with increased usage and data from more launches
how the open governance model for project management has worked, including accountability, and what unexpected thing has come out of it.
Orekit space flight dynamics library: https://www.orekit.org/
Orekit forum: https://forum.orekit.org/
Orekit forge: https://gitlab.orekit.org/orekit/orekit
Orekit quality dashboard: https://sonar.orekit.org/dashboard?id=org.orekit%3Aorekit
Rugged geolocation library: https://www.orekit.org/rugged/
Orekit as a service: https://oraas.orekit.space/
Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

Grant Anderson, Co-founder, President and CEO of Paragon Space Development Corp., is on the Cold Star Project with host Jason Kanigan to discuss life support and thermal control in space applications.
We cover:
what mission Paragon is on in space
what Grant believes has been critical in learning as a business leader at Paragon for a quarter-century
how critical NASA's connection with thermal control experts is, with the focus on Artemis
Paragon's involvement in the StratEx Space Dive
the most surprising thing learned from the Mars One Surface Habitat Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS) project
what people need to know about thermal control and satellites.
Paragon website: https://www.paragonsdc.com/
Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

Richard Ward of OrbitsEdge is on the Cold Star Project with host Jason Kanigan to share the promise of edge computing in orbit. Described as an enabler by NASA, OrbitsEdge is working to put compute processing power into space.
We discuss:
what edge computing is
why this focus for a space business
what barriers to adoption Rick foresees
the state of the space industry in the computing field today
the projected impact of edge computing in orbit on the commercialization of space over the next decade.
Satellite still from end of episode: https://coldstartech.com/orbitsedgepic
OrbitsEdge website: https://orbitsedge.com/
Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

Dr. Andrew Aldrin is Director of the Aldrin Space Institute at the Florida Institute of Tech, ISU Center for Space Entrepreneurship; past President of Moon Express; and a former Boeing Business Development Director. Andy joins Cold Star Project host Jason Kanigan to discuss the challenges of space entrepreneurship.
Developing technical capability is not enough to have a business. This may seem obvious; however, out there in the real world it is not often the case. We cover the Commercial Space Studies Graduate Certificate Program he leads, what Dr. Aldrin has seen that space graduate students need the most, what it's like having Space Angels as a supporting partner of the program, and insights from his past space business roles.
FIT-ISU Commercial Space Studies Graduate Certificate Program info: https://www.fit.edu/isucse/
Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

Dr. Gordon Roesler, past DARPA Program Manager and founder of Robots In Space, is on the Cold Star Project. With host Jason Kanigan of Cold Star Tech, Dr. Roesler discusses the coming capabilities and uses of robotic technologies in space.
Servicing satellites, recovering dead spacecraft and potentially recycling them, allowing in-orbit construction rather than having to expensively ship everything up are just some of the ways robots in space will have an impact on the industry.
Robots In Space website: https://robots-in.space/
Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

Dr. Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics is my guest on the Cold Star Project, and our space topics are many. Main-belt asteroid 4589 McDowell was named after him in 1993, and he was a contributor to Sky and Telescope magazine from 1993 - 2010. Since 1989 he has authored and edited Jonathan's Space Report, which tracks all known space launches.
We discuss:
the Chandra spacecraft x-ray telescope, which recently hit the 20-year-old mark
what Dr. McDowell has discovered about dark matter and quasars
whether or not he believes the ISS can be considered practical for commercial ventures
how much time and attention Jonathan's Space Report (JSR) takes, and what opportunities have arisen for him because of the consistent effort maintaining it
how good or poor registering and tracking of space objects really is, and whether we are truly ready for megaconstellations.
Planet4589 site: https://planet4589.org/jcm/index.html
Jonathan's Space Report signup page: https://www.planet4589.org/space/jsr/jsr.html
Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

SaaS Channel Marketing pro Stewart Townsend returns to the Cold Star Project, this time to talk about his new platform. Cloud.Vision. With Cloud.Vision, Stewart is leading Europe's SaaS founders, salespeople and marketers into a strong level of understanding and ability to execute in their software-as-a-service channel marketing efforts.
While industry data and best practices for SaaS channel are well understood in the United States, Europe's SaaS industry has been greatly underserved in this area...until now. Stewart Townsend's Cloud.Vision platform will have Europe's industry leaders share their experience and numbers to help strengthen the entire field.
Visit cloud.vision
Stewart's previous appearance on the Cold Star Project, discussing SaaS channel marketing and micro vs macro efforts at selling software-as-a-service, is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm8wVxzexhA
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Michael Maloney, founder of the advocacy organization Satellite Design for Recovery, is on the Cold Star Project with host Jason Kanigan to talk about the need for including a critical but not-yet-required component to the design of all objects launched into Earth orbit.
Satellites and other orbital objects should have mandated design requirements for rendezvous, capture and disposal. The cost of not doing so will be chaos in orbit. Mike is here to tell us about these consequences.
Satellite Design for Recovery website: https://satdfr.org/
Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

With guest Sean Ahlum, the Cold Star Project dips back to Season One and a look at the startup scene in Wilmington and South Eastern North Carolina. Jason Kanigan, the host of the Cold Star Project, has lived in Wilmington NC for nine out of the past ten years.
Sean is the VP of New Product Business Development at ABILITY Network, and the founder at seaCreatively consultancy. I especially wanted him on because of his experience as Senior Director of Innovation at Castle Branch for four years, during which he headed up energetic community development efforts as Senior Director of a startup incubator co-working space in Wilmington called Tek Mountain.
We cover the current condition of the startup scene in ILM and SENC, including:
what has changed in the past 10 years (I personally arrived in Wilmington to live in 2009, right after the 2008 crash, and support for startups was practically nonexistent)
Sean's experience with the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce board of directors, making use of his post degree certificate in Responsible Board Governance
the mission of his consultancy, seaCreatively, especially in relation to helping the right kind of startup
what Sean Ahlum has directly done in the fields of corporate innovation and community management
how he sees Big Data / machine learning affecting delivery of healthcare services, and what the next realistic step is for AI in healthcare.
Connect with Sean Ahlum on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seaneahlum/
Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall

Dr. Christopher Dreyer is the Associate Director of Engineering and co-creator of the Center for Space Resources at Colorado School of Mines. The School offers an exciting Space Resources Program and Dr. Dreyer has played an integral role in developing it. Chris meets with Cold Star Project host Jason Kanigan to discuss the Program.
We cover:
how Chris got involved with the idea of asteroid mining
the way one creates a curriculum for something that hasn't existed before - why the School decided to go with an online program format instead of in-class
exactly what is taught in a course Dr. Dreyer developed for the program, such as Space Resources Fundamentals
what if any relevance Earth-based capabilities and experience the Colorado School of Mines developed has for asteroid mining
technologies available and being developed to prospect for and process resources in space
how close or far away Dr. Dreyer believes we are to actual asteroid mining.
One of the first things I noticed on Dr. Dreyer's LinkedIn profile was a recommendation from Dr. Joel Sercel, also a guest on this show. Dr. Sercel's Momentus firm and Dr. Dreyer's School do have a relationship and we discuss that in this episode.
Dr. Sercel's appearance is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce9RrmQwr4U
Space Resources Program: https://space.mines.edu/
Talk to Cold Star: https://www.coldstartech.com/bookcall
Boring legal stuff: This is an impartial interview and Cold Star Tech and its representatives did not receive any compensation for it. Nor do we receive any compensation for any other episodes. No one reviews our content before it is posted. All opinions are those of Jason Kanigan, Cold Star Tech's founder.

Clinton Clark is the Vice President of First Impressions at ExoAnalytic Solutions, and our topic is space situational awareness.
Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST)
Space Domain Awareness (SDA)
Space Traffic Management (STM)
Space Situational Awareness (SSA)
are all terms--some newer than others--applicable to what ExoAnalytic does.
Clint Clark and Cold Star Project host Jason Kanigan dig into what these terms mean, how the company goes about providing such services, and their impact on space.
ExoAnalytic Solutions website: https://exoanalytic.com/
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Founder of TWO seven-figure businesses, under-30 Ken Cesar, is back on the Cold Star Project. This is an unusual episode because it's Cold Star Tech founder Jason Kanigan and Ken Cesar having a frank discussion of what's wrong with the Internet Marketing-driven business model and mindset... and what it takes to build a real business today.
Ken insisted we have this nothing-held-back, no-sacred-cows conversation because he, like me, is irritated with the copy-and-paste popup businesses we've been seeing so much of for the past several years.
They're created by rushing newbie business owners who have no idea what they're doing beyond copying a broken business model--and making something that MAY generate a splash of revenue for a short time before quickly becoming obsolete. The "owner" has therefore built precisely nothing. It is an epidemic getting worse and worse, and we want to do something to fight it.
Ripping off someone else's business, such as copying an Amazon drop shipping knife sales operation and trying to supply the product at a lower price...which is probably a business already ripped off from someone else... is NOT the way to long term or even medium term sustainable success. There are other things you need to be focusing on: things that are not at all being talked about in the IM-driven world.
Expect contrarian concepts and a depth of inquiry and understanding you won't hear anywhere else.
Ken's previous appearance on the Cold Star Project: https://anchor.fm/cold-star-project/episodes/Ken-Cesar---Scaling-To-Seven-Figures-Twice--And-In-Different-Fields---Cold-Star-Project-e26975/a-a57que
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Robert Whearty is Senior VP, Space Projects at Marsh, an insurance brokerage for the space industry. He's also a satellite engineer. On this episode of the Cold Star Project, Bob joins host Jason Kanigan of Cold Star Tech to explain how insurance for satellites works.
We take a broad look at the state of the space insurance field right now, with questions like:
what's the process for insuring a satellite or constellation?
is the money supply for space insurance expanding or contracting at the moment?
how is space insurance different from traditional insurance fields?
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Dr. Pete Worden, NASA Ames Research Center Director from 2006 - 2015, is the guest on this special episode of the Cold Star Project. Dr. Rick Fleeter hosts at the Space Horizons 2020 conference at Brown University on February 8, 2020.
Dr. Worden shares his views on his long career in the Space field, and because he is answerable to no one we get to hear some powerful opinions.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Worden
Dr. Fleeter is a Professor at Brown, host of the annual Space Horizons conference and Cold Star's Technical Engineering Advisor.
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Managing Director of Space In Africa, Temidayo Oniosun, is on the Cold Star Project with host Jason Kanigan. Voted in 2018 as one of the World 24 Under 24 Leaders and Innovators in SPACE and STEAM by The Mars Generation, as well as one of the recipients of 35 Under 35 space industry recognition award by the International Institute of Space Commerce, Temidayo is an important voice in the Space field.
Hearing what is going on from outside the traditional North American and European centers of space industry is valuable and so we strive to bring you such interviews. Here, we discuss:
what brought Temidayo to the love of space?
what he believes is the most exciting development in the African space industry right now
what he wants people living outside Africa to know about space investment on the continent...unexpected capabilities, rising stars
the state of the African space economy, and how much or little cooperation is happening between nation states
how he gathers the data for his Space In Africa industry reports, which are typically bought by executives and analysts outside the continent...and who makes for the best consumers of this information.
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Xinabox co-founder Judi Sandrock from South Africa is on the Cold Star Project with host Jason Kanigan, and we're talking about their modular smallsat teaching tools.
XinaBox designs, develops, and sells modular electronics for the IoT and STEM education markets, in senior schools as well as universities. The technology allows for rapid IoT, embedded and electronics prototyping and development, without soldering, wiring or other hardware knowledge … just coding.
We discuss:
successes and challenges of working on the MEDO Space (Meta Economic Development Organisation) and the Space STEM program in Africa
what's missing in STEM education, both in Africa and abroad
what Industry 4.0 is and why it's important
How Xinabox is creating a huge opportunity for impact in STEM education worldwide
How the Xinabox team was involved in the ThinSat and xSat STEM satellite constellations.
For those listening on the audio version, a still of an Xinabox kit is at https://coldstarproject.com/xinabox
Further info about Xinabox products including shop: https://www.xinabox.cc (not an affiliate link)
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Dr. Pauline Faure, Assistant Professor at California Polytechnic State University's Aerospace Engineering Department, is on the Cold Star Project with host Jason Kanigan. We're talking about what it's like to be a student in Cal Poly's CubeSat Lab.
Dr. Faure has international experience in Europe, Japan and the USA. The lab has completed eight missions in the past year including the bus for Lightsail 2. This is a great interview for space students.
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Astralytical founder Dr. Laura Forczyk is on the Cold Star Project with host Jason Kanigan to talk about her new book, Rise of the Space Age Millenials. We also cover a number of other space topics, such as commentary on policy questions like:
reduced ISS crew size
NASA's Commercial Crew Program
Space Tourism
US Space Policy
Megaconstellations and astronomer rights
Rise of the Space Age Millennials book page (not an affiliate link): https://www.astralytical.com/rise-of-the-space-age-millennials
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Space lawyer and scifi writer Laura Montgomery is on the Cold Star Project, and we're digging into how Congress, US agencies and operators work to create and enforce space regulations.
With host Jason Kanigan, we discuss:
the basics of how space law works in the US and for US citizens abroad
how Laura's FAA experience built and impacted her approach to space law
the question of sovereignty in space law ("They didn't say I couldn't so I can"; OST Article 1 vs Article 2)
the way regulatory and treaty issues can impact space law
how human space flight is regulated in the United States of America
how Laura's space law practice has influenced her science fiction writing.
Laura Montgomery is Proprietor of Ground Based Space Matters, Adjunct Professor of space law at Catholic University's Columbus School of Law, a former manager FAA space law branch (3 years) and senior attorney for commercial space transportation (18 years).
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Michael Lyon, founder of Xtronaut Enterprises, is a mentor at the Creative Destruction Lab tech accelerator, with a history of work in the space tourism and education fields. He has been an Adjunct Professor at the George Mason University School of Management, and was general counsel with James Cameron on Deep Ocean Expeditions (Titanic, Bismark).
On the Cold Star Project with host Jason Kanigan we discuss:
the experience of traveling in a submersible to hydrothermal vents 8600 feet beneath the ocean surface
what Michael has learned as a mentor at the Creative Destruction Lab
what space and AI company founders need to do before they start looking for seed round funding
the deadly things startups consistently miss to protect themselves legally as they begin operation
how Michael's company, Xtronaut Enterprises, is involved in the NASA OSIRIS-REx mission
the hurdles to commercial space tourism and how the field may develop.
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Jim Cantrell, founder of StratSpace, was SpaceX's first senior business development executive. StratSpace has been involved in 46 satellite and deep space missions, with clients ranging from NASA, USAF, NRO, major aerospace companies and many space startups including ICEYE, Moon Express and York Space Systems.
In this episode of the Cold Star Project, host Jason Kanigan asks Jim Cantrell about funding and building space companies. We dig into:
what investors at different levels are most looking for in space ventures, beyond making a profit
how Jim's hiring practices have changed and what he looks for to bring the right people on board
why StatSpace focused on smallsats as a core business, rather than launch vehicles
experience with ICEYE, OSIRIS-REx, and other missions
Jim's fun projects of restoring vintage racecars.
Playlist: https://coldstartech.com/play
Subscribe: https://coldstartech.com/subs
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

On this episode on the Cold Star Project, hosted by Jason Kanigan, our guest is Dr. Moriba Jah. Dr. Jah had an amazing career as navigator of a number of NASA Mars missions, and is now Director, Computational Astronautical Sciences & Technologies, Oden Institute at the University of Texas at Austin.
I was referred to Dr. Jah by Fred Kennedy, past director of the US Space Development Agency, as a person "leading the charge" on space traffic management.
In our interview, we cover:
the reason current collision detection equations are so lousy, and what we can do to improve them
how photoacoustic sensing can be improved and used to develop Resident Space Object (RSO) signatures
what we need to learn before machine learning/AI can be used to identify threatening behaviors or as a forensic tool after anomalous events
what credibility metrics are for collision prevention, what's missing, and why we need these
how Bayesian equations can be used to improve our space tracking data, orbital collision detection models and certainty
what curved space is, and what is challenging about modeling RSO travel within it
what we can investigate and build so we have a tool to estimate debris fields upon reentry--no models of which exist now.
Notes:
Dr. Moriba Jah's article on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moriba_Jah
Orekit database by CS Group (creator of which will be a guest on an upcoming episode): https://www.orekit.org/
Playlist: https://coldstartech.com/play
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Jason Kanigan is producing a weekday update series of short videos, called Make Space Boring. These cover who he's meeting and what he's studying in the space field. If you'd like to follow along, sign up here for updates by email: https://www.coldstartech/msb

The Lazy Project Manager, Peter Taylor, is on the Cold Star Project to share his experience in what it takes to improve project performance. Space engineers, like other technical executives, are typically excellent at the practical and material side of project tasks; however, as in other industries would greatly benefit from improving their project management skills.
With host Jason Kanigan, Peter discusses:
the origin of the ‘Lazy Project Manager’ (book: https://www.amazon.com/lazy-project-m... -- NOT an affiliate link)
whether project managers are learning or becoming ‘productively lazier’
the upcoming new book releasing in January 2020 (Project Management: It's All Bollocks: https://www.amazon.com/Project-Manage... -- NOT an affiliate link)
Project Sponsorship weakness
Lack of connection from C-Level execs to on the ground project change delivery
The rise of ‘projects as usual’ with people delivering change as part of their day to day job - The future of project management, including the potential impact of artificial intelligence / machine learning / data science.
Cold Star Tech is on a mission to bring automotive-style continuous manufacturing process improvements to smallsat and cubesat commercial operations. In doing so, costs will be lowered; profits will be increased; and most importantly, smallsat mission success rates will be raised. User adoption of space technology is our goal.
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

What's the difference between ITAR and EAR for space companies? When do the International Traffic in Arms Regulations apply instead of the Export Administration Regulations?
Join Cold Star Tech president Jason Kanigan in a brief look at these export regulations and how they are applied. You'll likely hear some surprising things about how ITAR and EAR apply to space companies.
I am not an attorney and this is not legal or "professional" advice. All views expressed are my own.
Sign up for "Make Space Boring" updates by email: https://www.coldstartech.com/msb

The Mini Bee asteroid mining craft prototype is the topic of this episode of the Cold Star Project, and Dr. Joel Sercel is our guest. Momentus Space and TransAstra are teaming up with a NASA NIAC grant and other investors to prove the concept of this new asteroid mining technology.
Dr. Sercel has considerable experience in the space field, having designed JPL's space project process. We cover:
tradeoffs in vehicle design of the Mini Bee
process for Mini Bee proof of concept
"process maturity" concept for Air Force projects he lead
biggest surprise in his JPL experience
smallsat market predictions.
Mini Bee project info on NASA site: https://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2019_Phase_I_Phase_II/Mini_Bee_Prototype/
Cold Star Tech is on a mission to bring automotive-style continuous manufacturing process improvements to smallsat and cubesat commercial operations. In doing so, costs will be lowered; profits will be increased; and most importantly, smallsat mission success rates will be raised.
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Space lawyer and Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center Christopher Johnson is on the Cold Star Project. With host Jason Kanigan, the Secure World Foundation space law advisor shares what the public needs to know about space law.
Space law is a complex and often unclear subject, operating on corporate, national and international levels. Chris explains how space law approaches topics such as:
Government regulation of services and nation state liability
Planetary protection
How space resources may be used
Property rights on celestial bodies
Achieving consensus on space policy and regulations
Militarization of space.
Notes:
Softwood lumber dispute summary: https://aacb.com/facts-to-understand-about-softwood-lumber-dispute/
Space Law summary resource: https://spacepolicyonline.com/topics/space-law/
Secure World Foundation: https://swfound.org/
Cold Star Tech is on a mission to bring automotive-style continuous manufacturing process improvements to smallsat and cubesat commercial operations. In doing so, costs will be lowered; profits will be increased; and most importantly, smallsat mission success rates will be raised.
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

In May 2019, the President issued Executive Order 13873, declaring a national emergency concerning the national Information and Communications Technology and Services (ICTS) supply chain security, and instructing the Department of Commerce to take action. On November 26, 2019, the Department of Commerce released proposed rules "to identify, assess, and address ICTS transactions" posing risk to US ICTS, the US digital economy's critical infrastructure, and national security or security and safety of US persons.
Join Jason Kanigan of Cold Star Tech in a quick look at the reasons why the Executive Order was issued, what the Department of Commerce intends as a solution, and the possible effects of the proposed rule.
Executive Order 13873 (May 15, 2019): https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-securing-information-communications-technology-services-supply-chain/
Department of Commerce response (November 26, 2019): https://www.commerce.gov/news/press-releases/2019/11/us-department-commerce-proposes-rule-securing-nations-information-and
I am not an attorney and this is not legal or "professional" advice. All views expressed are my own.
Sign up for "Make Space Boring" updates: https://www.coldstartech.com/msb
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Simon Gwozdz, founder of Equatorial Space Industries, is on the Cold Star Project with Jason Kanigan to tell us about the space industry outside of the North American and European theaters.
The commercial space launch operator shares his efforts to develop a dedicated nanosat launch vehicle in Southeast Asia, as well as the initial success he and his team have had.
We look into issues space startup companies face, unexpected local Singapore-based space expertise, and differences between the North American and European centers and his local area of operation.
Equatorial Space Industries qualified for the Top 500 Deeptech Statups worldwide, and is drawing increasing attention as an up-and-comer.
More about the company at https://equatorialspace.com/
Cold Star Tech is on a mission to bring automotive-style continuous manufacturing process improvements to smallsat and cubesat commercial operations. In doing so, costs will be lowered; profits will be increased; and most importantly, smallsat mission success rates will be raised.
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

WRC-19 concludes with new ITU regulations for operators of smallsat megaconstellations.
But what are these new smallsat / cubesat regulations, and what do they mean?
Join Jason Kanigan of Cold Star Tech for a quick look at the history of and reason for the World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC-19), held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, 28 October to 22 November 2019, regulations for International Telecommunication Union members on small satellite constellation deployment milestones.
With these regulations, the ITU seeks to ensure member state operators do not "warehouse spectrum" and block other, smaller operators from access.
I am not an attorney and this is not legal or "professional" advice. All views expressed are my own.
Sign up for "Make Space Boring" updates: https://www.coldstartech.com/msb
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Dr. Riccardo Albertoni, a member of the Airbus team in charge of developing electric propulsion systems including the one used on the OneWeb constellation, is our guest on the Cold Star Project.
His team was the 2017 & 2019 Winner of the Airbus Defence and Space Award for Excellence, and he lectures on electric propulsion at the Airbus Space Academy.
Dr. Albertoni explains how electric propulsion for satellites works, as well as its role in the market.
While electric propulsion has several advantages, it is not a fit for every type of mission. He explains to host Jason Kanigan that there will continue to be room for conventional combustion propulsion systems.
Dr. Albertoni concludes by sharing his views on what new developments are upcoming in the electric propulsion field.
Cold Star Tech is on a mission to bring automotive-style continuous manufacturing process improvements to smallsat and cubesat commercial operations. In doing so, costs will be lowered; profits will be increased; and most importantly, smallsat mission success rates will be raised.
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Dr. Amelia Greig of the University of Texas at El Paso's Center for Space Exploration and Technology Research is on the Cold Star Project to talk about her experience. We're looking into both her own experience as a student and professor, and that of her graduate students in today's programs.
Dr. Greig earned an Australian National University doctorate in plasma physics & electrical propulsion, a Postdoctorate in Plasma Physics at CalTech, and taught aerospace propulsion, space environment and spacecraft thermal control at California Polytechnic State University before moving to the University of Texas.
I wanted to hear from "boots on the ground" about what's going on in academia regarding smallsats. So we cover what kind of courses students are interested in, the hands-on opportunities they're being given in addition to classroom theory, and Dr. Greig's vision for the future.
In addition, she shares her thoughts on what graduate students can and should be doing before and as graduation approaches so they can maximize their job opportunities. Networking done well during this time can pay off strongly into their career.
You can connect with Dr. Greig at adgreig@utep.edu
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Dr. Rick Fleeter, associate adjunct professor at Brown University and visiting lecturer at La Sapienza (Rome), has decades of personal history with small satellites.
“I got started in microspace through amateur radio and AMSAT. In the early 1980s I had the unusual experience of spending evenings building small satellites in a garage in Redondo Beach, CA, paid for essentially with small contributions by the team that was building them, while during the day working at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and then TRW, where it was insisted that without something close to $1 billion there wasn’t much you could do other than paper studies.”
Rick Fleeter was launching smallsats in the 1970s, when they were considered merely a hobby or toys. Since then he has helped change the perception of cubesats to useful tools by leading well designed, cost-minimized projects. As an example, Brown's Space Engineering department built a satellite for just $5000. He has written books, founded the company AeroAstro and the Space Horizons annual conference at Brown.
In this interview, Cold Star Project host Jason Kanigan asks Dr. Rick Fleeter about the smallsat and cubesat field, new developments, frustrations with space, and even company development.
Inquiries for Dr. Fleeter can be emailed to: rick_fleeter@brown.edu
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Host of the top space educator YouTube channel, Science and Futurism with Isaac Arthur, is on the Cold Star Project and we're talking about the future of smallsats.
Isaac Arthur shares his views with host Jason Kanigan on:
the potential impact of economies of scale and the sheer number of cubesats about to be put into orbit
tracking problems and space debris cleanup possibly resulting from mission failure, end of life, and collisions
connectivity improvements leading to SAR (search and rescue) & lifesaving operations
the next two or three decades of industry & commercial development of continuous launches to place and replace satellite constellations
the future of smallsat technology and "space jobs."
Check out Science and Futurism with Isaac Arthur here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZFipeZtQM5CKUjx6grh54g
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Why a forensic criminologist / incident investigator on a Space podcast? Dr. Ron Martinelli has much to share with us about how to analyze documentation properly, derive lessons from it, and become a truly learning organization.
Dr. Ron Martinelli is a nationally renowned forensic criminologist who is the only police expert in the country who is also a Certified Medical Investigator at the physician’s level.
Dr. Ron directs the nation’s only multidisciplinary Forensic Death Investigations & Independent Review Team and specializes in forensic investigations including officer-involved and civilian self-defense shooting death cases.
Everything he has to share is directly applicable to improving smallsat mission success rates.
In this episode of the Cold Star Project we're digging into:
ways in which evidence can be misleading
the effectiveness or lack thereof of bodycams (and all cameras)
how movies & TV portray psychological profilers versus real life
the way "the story can change over time" and lessons invalidated that you thought you had learned--and indoctrinated the entire culture about in the meantime, getting it all wrong
the importance of processes & systems to collect critical data.
Find out more about Dr. Ron Martinelli at https://drronmartinelli.com/
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Phoenix Launch Systems co-founder and Vogue Aerospace president Matthew Travis is on the Cold Star Project to share his plans for enabling simplified, rapid access to space.
With a nanosatellite launch system and versatile space transportation system, Matt is engaged in the mission to bring launches to a daily occurrence. His experience with smallsat components and interest in streamlining products and processes provide the drive to keep costs minimized and a goal of US $750K launches.
We discover what Matt learned about the reliability of third party component specifications and other experiences "from the front lines" in this interview.
Contact Matt by email at matthew.travis@phoenixlaunchsystems.com
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall
Cold Star Tech: "Make Space Boring" - Smallsat Manufacturing Process Improvement & Data Science

My guest on the Cold Star Project this time is the Director of Education and a partner at the Boston Career Institute, where they train sterile processing techs.
I have been interested in the sterile processing field for some time as it exists at the intersection of the opportunities I enjoy most:
compliance culture
time-based critical mission
(and hopefully) desire to be the best.
That last is not always in evidence out there.
Steve Yanovsky's insight to this world was fascinating to me. I have spoken with Steve before but we had not gotten to this level of detail. This conversation immediately got me started on looking for evidence of such culture mismatches elsewhere...and I suspect they are just about everywhere.
I have certainly seen this kind of issue in the world of sales training: the VPs of Business Development have zero idea what the "boots on the ground" problems their front line salespeople are experiencing...they only care about their numbers.
Especially if you are in the healthcare field this will be an eye-opener. I'd recommend it as alarming listening for anyone interested in the world and human affairs, though.
You'll hear about how:
Sterile Processing Departments (SPDs) could lose 70% of their workforce because they can't get their staff certified
the Sterile Processing Tech (SPT) field is much bigger than equipment / setup / sterilization
much discretion left to the tech, supervisor, etc. on carrying out of tasks
SPTs can "get ahead" in hospital work environments
the missing culture connection of the SPD directly to patient care in the operating room is causing training and delivery problems.
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

This time on the Cold Star Project we're looking at Albert Kahn. Kahn’s firm pioneered standardization and modular systems, and had the biggest impact on industrial architecture in the 20th Century--yet is almost completely unknown both in the USA and Russia despite having done major projects in both countries.
Kahn's USP was designing buildings on time & under budget, with good quality of construction. The "Why" of hiring his firm was not about hiring the artist (as with contemporary Frank Lloyd Wright) but rather the "corporate guarantee" Kahn's leadership brought to the table.
The USSR's transition from an agrarian to industrial economy was certainly sparked by the teaching and involvement of Kahn's firm as the Soviets hired them to teach their engineers and build their first giant mass production factories.
I'm indebted to Claire Zimmerman and Sonia Melnikova-Raich for the information used to create this episode.
http://www.we-aggregate.org/piece/the-labor-of-albert-kahn
After the release of this episode, Ms. Melnikova-Raich reached out to approve linking of her paper here: https://www.academia.edu/19601168/The_Soviet_Problem_with_Two_Unknowns_How_an_American_Architect_and_a_Soviet_Negotiator_Jump-Started_the_Industrialization_of_Russia
Playlist: http://bit.ly/cspplay
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Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

CPA Luis Lomanov and author of Financial Foundations works with high growth tech firms to give them scalable financial infrastructures. In early stage, fast growth periods, Luis excels at helping these companies avoid taking on big costs too soon. These include processes and systems the owners are typically not thinking about, which enable them to avoid:
getting sucked into unprofitable "busy work" that takes them away from sales
hiring a $150K/yr CFO too early -their people and systems breaking when the level of activity quadruples
KPIs that don't help the owners in making decisions
running out of cash unexpectedly in the middle of a growth spurt.
This discussion about scalable financial systems between Cold Star Project host Jason Kanigan and Upward Insights Managing Partner Luis Lomanov will show you the key perspective to have about money processes as you grow.
Connect with Luis Lomanov on LinkedIn.
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Todd Hockenberry returns to the Cold Star Project to share his experience with and views on how to make inbound marketing effective for service organizations.
While many service companies believe they understand their ideal customer avatar and buyer's journey, the fact is they're often irritating their best customers. What those customers want is not what the company believes they do--or what the organization wants to "push."
Todd Hockenberry is the author of "Inbound Organization: How to Build and Strengthen Your Company's Future Using Inbound Principles." Learn more about Top Line Results and Todd through this Welcome Link:
https://www.top-line-results.com/cold
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Brian Reynolds helps family-run firms, often in the manufacturing space, in the $50 - 100 million revenue range "replace stale and ineffective business models with modern, integrated sales & marketing processes."
In this episode of the Cold Star Project hosted by Jason Kanigan, Brian Reynolds talks about the challenges of navigating the family through a process of discovery...so your plans can survive the holiday dinner you are not invited to.
Is the business' vision separated from its tasks? Is there succession planning? And how important is branding to the owners? These are key questions Brian raises in our discussion.
Brian notes that it's a terrible idea to run your business as if nothing bad will ever happen. Yet that is how most are operated. Listen in and find out what you can be doing differently as a business owner to ensure yours doesn't get stuck.
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Space Initiatives Inc. president Charles Radley is on a mission to make collision detection between objects in orbit much more effective.
The current technology is not as good as you might think, and there is an opportunity to improve space collision detection at an affordable investment.
A major danger of orbital collisions is not just the crashing of one object into another, but a cascading series of impacts called the Kessler Syndrome. The worst outcome for a Kessler Syndrome incident is an orbital debris field blocking launches for generations. And it is not a fantasy.
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Thick Face, Black Heart by Chin-Ning Chu is an operations manual for realists. It's a field guide for people who want to develop a thicker skin. It's all about the art of stopping being a people-pleaser and becoming just a little more ruthless in the pursuance of your goals.
Marc Mawhinney is the founder of Natural Born Coaches and the connected group The Coaching Jungle on Facebook, a 16,000-strong container for coaches of all kinds. After having a real estate business implode under him (discussed in a previous appearance on this show), Marc dusted himself off and moved in a different direction. Using Thick Face, Black Heart as his guide, Marc has created new success while "keeping his belly covered" as sales trainer David Sandler would say.
If you're a fan of The Secret, you owe it to yourself to see the contrast available in Thick Face, Black Heart. Join Marc Mawhinney and Jason Kanigan for this fun discussion of entrepreneurship "behind the scenes."
You can find the Coaching jungle via thecoachingjungle.com
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Todd Hockenberry is on the Cold Star Project to share his experiences with growing industrial manufacturing firms through effective inbound marketing. He has many valuable stories to share about improving your results.
Being overly focused on the product results in a way of thinking about your business that stops sales from happening. There is far more going on in your buyer's mind than wondering about a list of features.
Todd's way of thinking about industrial manufacturing marketing begins with answering the question, "How does the buyer of this product actually buy?" And that leads to the strategy, then the tactics through the right inbound marketing content. The details of the situation around the buying decision are the key to this content, not features.
Todd Hockenberry is the author of "Inbound Organization: How to Build and Strengthen Your Company's Future Using Inbound Principles."
Learn more about Top Line Results and Todd through this Welcome Link: https://www.top-line-results.com/coldstarproject
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Your organization's speed of response is critical, whether it's taking advantage of opportunities in the marketplace, delivering on a critical mission, or responding to an angry customer.
Yet most companies' documentation processes are terrible. And without good, timely documentation, you won't learn anything.
Tune in for examples of how poor or non-existent documentation processes have resulted in failure of organizations...and most disturbingly, lessons these organizations thought they learned becoming invalidated as the story of what happened changed over time. That changing story is a direct result of poor documentation.
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Verne Harnish has a great diagram in his book Scaling Up. I use it all over the place. The diagram shows 28 million firms in the USA, divided into categories by revenue. You might be surprised at just how few companies reach $50 million.
And between each category, you must go through what Harnish terms the "Valley of Death"! To scale up to the next revenue plateau, you must adapt or die.
How well you adapt is directly impacted by the way you're thinking about your business.
Over the past year or so, I've been searching for different ways of thinking about businesses. Yet the newbie crowd, who are only interested in what I call "newbie talk"--focus on traffic and conversion, tactics, hacks and magic bullets--hear what I bring back from my searches as "philosophical" or just plain nonsense.
But the fact is, having talked about "newbie talk" topics from 2011 through around 2016, I'm simply no longer interested in those topics. They seem like kids' stuff to me. You can still get all my old content out there for free.
In this episode, I'm giving a clear example of different thinking. Three different organizations have three different ways of thinking about...and solving...the same problem.
Until now, you've likely been unconsciously following just one way of thinking in your business.
You probably never thought there was another way of thinking about it.
Yet your competitors are surely thinking in those different ways.
Which of you will succeed?
The one that adapts the best--which is the one that THINKS the best.
Listen in and discover something new. This is just as real to me as rocks and trees. It's not philosophy.

Brightideas.co and flowster.app founder Trent Dyrsmid is on the Cold Star Project with Jason Kanigan to share the incredible value of SOPs in building your Amazon Wholesaling business.
Trent immediately documented his processes as he created his own Amazon wholesaling operation, and makes these SOPs available to other sellers.
Not knowing your numbers is the #1 issue he sees with business owners. And to do that, he has specific programs he recommends you get training on and use.
We also talk about different Amazon business models and why wholesaling is likely the best choice for newbies today.
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

"What's the best SaaS dashboard product?" is a common question I'm asked.
And my answer is: the one you build yourself.
No one knows your KPIs as well as you do...and the limitations in the thinking of the dashboard developers will blind you if you use their product.
Talk to Cold Star about your situation: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Avis' Manager of Strategy & Innovation, Attila Dobai, returns to the Cold Star Project with Jason Kanigan to share his experience over the last several months causing disruption in his marketplace.
While leading an innovative program to offer truck rentals at major retailer parking lots, Attila also managed to take a Harvard Business School course on disruption, attend a live networking event at Cambridge afterwards, speak on two stages, and become an examiner for the Baldrige Awards.
Yes, it was a busy Spring for Attila. Join us to hear the details and learn about marketplace disruption.
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

I asked Wes Schaeffer, the Sales Whisperer, back on to the Cold Star Project to follow up on his previous appearance, "What CRM Should I Get?" Turned out there were plenty of details for us to cover, so you could understand what you need to get together before you go out shopping for a new CRM.
If you don't write down the process you're using to gather leads and market to them, you'll get suckered in by bloated CRM programs that sell you features you don't need and will never use. Wes explains the steps you must go through to make sure you don't fall into this trap, and instead get the right CRM for you--the one you will actually use.
You'll learn a lot from our straightforward discussion, and if you want Wes' free CRM training package afterwards, it's at https://www.thesaleswhisperer.com/pbl
Talk to Cold Star: http://bit.ly/talktocoldstar

Adam Crowl returns to the Cold Star Project to talk about a "moon-based gas station," point-to-point travel, and why many space-focused people want us to go to Titain. To become a spacefaring society we're going to need infrastructure, and what we're discussing today could be an economically and physically practical part of that.
Adam's blog is http://crowlspace.com/
More about Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/

Space news aggregator and educator Fraser Cain is on the Cold Star Project to discuss Elon Musk's Starlink and his experience with startups.
SHOW NOTES:
First we cover the Starlink constellation:
-what is it (high speed worldwide ISP satellite network)
-compliance requirements -space junk / Kessler Syndrome problem - lowered planned altitude solution -astronomers not consulted - streaks of satellites crossing images blocking view (somewhat fixed)
-privacy & political considerations - it's a broadcast network - no intermediary / routing - all traffic will go at same speed.
Fraser co-founded 2 businesses in the 90s that went public and another that he made a lifestyle business:
-Absolute Software for a laptop theft recovery system
-Communicate.com web development for large companies
-Communicate owned early one word domain names
-discovered self-knowledge of where his genius range / fun point is in business
-found his "fun factor" is in educating and directly connecting with readers through Universe Today
-"20 years later still having a ball"
-features: minimal staff, built to last, strong purpose (not Exit for money, but "how do I make this more fun for me?")
-uses Pateron because he doesn't like paywalls
-how self-directed vs Patreon-directed? His readers want the "chefs special"
-If-Then Statements about Happiness that don't work out in reality (people end up sadly surprised), so pick something you love.
Get on Fraser's newsletter distribution list at https://www.universetoday.com/
Talk to Cold Star: https://coldstartech.com/bookcall

Self-educated nuclear propulsion expert Eustratius "Stuart" Graham joins host Jason Kanigan on the Cold Star Project to bring us up to speed on this topic.
Stuart is consulted by Space industry professionals and is building an online repository of history and information about nuclear propulsion for space vehicles.
Our discussion is a great primer for you to understand the historical development of nuclear propulsion (which was primarily completed in the 1970s) and how it is being planned for use today.
Beyond NERVA blog and encyclopediac site: https://beyondnerva.com/

In today's solo episode of the Cold Star Project, I'm sharing an example of how harsh demands force people to think outside the box. And that's often not good for you.
The brutal demands on Germany of the 1919 Versailles Treaty ending WWI prompted Weimar politicians and military officials to come up with creative means to circumvent those restrictions. These means enabled Germany to pay off reparations much more quickly than anticipated and get out of economic domination, and also train and upgrade their armed forces in a way the treaty was specifically designed to prevent. Germany took their activities "off the radar" of the victorious Allies.
If you can't see an event, you can't audit it. As we've covered in past discussions, poor documentation results in stories changing over time...and the lessons you thought you learned often being invalidated.
Talk to Cold Star: http://bit.ly/talktocoldstar

* BUILDING a business
* RUNNING a business
* Running a SUCCESSFUL business
are all different things, and Ken Moskowitz of AdZombies is on the Cold Star Project with Jason Kanigan to tell us stories that highlight the differences.
We begin with the question, "Do companies actually learn anything?", and continue with how to put the right people into the right seats.
Our discussion about scaling covers:
business structure that doesn't fit the corporate model
delegation of control and the corresponding trust needed in your people
dealing with being easily distracted as a founder
the difference between what Ken thought scaling was and what he found it to really be
what to deliberately ignore and what to concentrate up on when deciding whether or not to bring on a new employee
What business are you in? What business are you really in? And what business should you be in, to "future-proof" your business? Ken poses and gives his real-world examples to answer these questions.
This is one of the top five interviews I've hosted.
Talk to Cold Star: http://bit.ly/talktocoldstar

Daxy Perez, founder of Legacy Podcasting and the Podcasting Success Secrets group on Facebook, is on the Cold Star Project with host Jason Kanigan to talk about growing your podcast.
We discuss:
how to pick the right audience to boost your chances of podcasting success
determining your conversion strategy, ie. what you as the podcast host want your listeners to do next
what podcasters can do to increase their podcast audience size
the best attitude for podcasting success
how to focus on the psychology of your avatar or target audience to improve the effectiveness of your podcast's marketing.
He also describes from the examples of his clients what an underrated podcast looks like, sharing important details podcast hosts can build into their own shows.
Daxy points out that podcasting is not "like launching a product; it's not.: it's like starting a book. All right: now there's a lot more work to be done."
Talk with us: http://bit.ly/talktocoldstar

Swell System founder Derek Schmidt is back on the Cold Star Project and he's got some new stories of scaling to share. We discuss:
- How business owners are using Swell to document their processes, so they can free up their own time and energy and learn
- How agency owners can give up control of key tasks like bidding on jobs without fear that their people will screw up
- Derek's appearance as a Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED)-featured tech presenter for a $50K grant - info at cednc.org
Swell is an integrated business management solution and is one of Cold Star Tech's Preferred Vendors. More information can be found through our referral link at https://coldstarproject.com/preferred-vendors/
Talk with us: http://bit.ly/talktocoldstar

Are Companies Actually LEARNING Anything?
("No.")
Without accurate documentation, the story changes over time. And if the story changes over time, what can you say you've really learned?
If you're not documenting what happens in your business, you and your people won't learn anything. Operational excellence will be an impossibility.
You say, "Yeah, I know that," but I know hardly anyone is documenting anything. The processes, and the data that results from them, are in their heads or not recorded at all.
And they data they do have? The accountant doesn't know what their production people need--and the production people don't know to ask accounting for it.
So you don't "know that."

How do you sell a scaling business? Particularly a process-based, zero employee business?
Peter Hoskins of RareCurve has succeeded in multiple six and seven-figure exits and this time on the Cold Star Project we're discussing the details of how he did it. What factors were involved in this seven-figure sale?
- How did Peter get the business organized to sell?
- How did he find an appropriate buyer?
- What kind of commitment was required to make the sale happen?
- How long did it take?
These and many other questions are answered in this extensive interview with a business creator who understands the importance of process and documentation. Join Peter Hoskins and Jason Kanigan for this in-depth conversation about selling a scaling business.
Talk to Cold Star: http://bit.ly/talktocoldstar

10XTS (advanced fintech and regtech solutions provider) and Founder Institute - Cincinnati prime mover Michael Hiles is on the Cold Star Project and we're talking about big thinking and capital markets. This is a conversation far above the "tips and tricks" level and could well be an eye-opener for you.
We talk about fintech software, blockchain and cryptocurrency, creating your own opportunity zone investment fund, and improving capital efficiency. You'll learn the difference between "balance sheet" dollars versus "hustle revenue" dollars and what scaling your financial processes might look like.
The kind of fund Michael shares details about here is useful to offset tax gain liability.
We also cover how you can begin to develop your own expert contact base, which is the key to opening doors to working at a higher level.
Talk to Cold Star: http://bit.ly/talktocoldstar

On average 130 people die from opioid overdose every day [CDC.] "If I see injustice you must act": David Reeser is a leader in the true sense of the word. In striving to leverage the AI skills of his other business and harness the power of the community in Wilmington NC through opiAID, David is leading the work to over come the opioid epidemic.
The process begins with language: recognizing that victims of the opioid overdose crisis are our neighbors. And we help our neighbors.
David is one of the most genuine, Be-Here-Now people I have met. His intention on solving this deadly problem is laser-focused and I have no doubt that he will achieve the goals opiAID has. I attended the monthly meetup held to update stakeholders at Tek Mountain, and was very impressed with the 30+ medical, therapist, startup and other professionals in the room.
From the opiAID website: "opiAID is a technology assisted therapy (TAT) offering an integrated communication platform that allows ALL Partners the ability to coordinate their efforts to save the life of at least one Neighbor. With real-time communication and accurate data – all working on a compliance-driven and fast cloud-based platform – this SaaS application will result in better reporting and more accurate data. Ultimately, lives will be saved and the cost of combating this disease will dramatically decrease.
"For our Neighbors, we are designing a wearable device with the capacity to detect cravings and alert a family member or counselor in the event of an emergency. If an overdose is detected, the device will deliver Naloxone and reverse the effects of the opioid, all while alerting emergency medical professionals of the Neighbor’s location."
opiAID is gathering community members and leaders in a way that hasn't happened before: it's more than technology.
opiAID website: http://www.opiaid.tech/
opiAID article in WRAL Tech Wire: https://www.wraltechwire.com/2018/11/12/wilmington-startup-opiaid-applies-ai-power-to-substance-abuse/
CDC information page on the opioid overdose crisis: https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/epidemic/index.html
Talk to Cold Star: http://bit.ly/talktocoldstar

NinjaOutreach was a 4 year startup SaaS for founder Dave Schneider. He and a co-founder worked with this idea for years, developing an MVP and then improving it until the opportunity to sell the product came along.
Dave's story is unlike the typical "We're perfect and did everything right" tale you'll hear spun by most SaaS founders. In this episode of the Cold Star Project you'll hear honesty about capabilities, marketing, churn and more that will make you sit up and take notice of what it really takes to succeed in the SaaS world.
While other founders will give you a snow job about how well they're doing and the performance of their product, Dave Schneider steps up to the plate to share the reality of what the SaaS experience is like for a whole lot of founders who choose this path.
Talk to Cold Star: http://bit.ly/talktocoldstar

Peter Loving is the founder of the SaaS Founders and Execs group on Facebook, and from this position he has seen the pitfalls of many SaaS founders as they try to scale.
In this interview on the Cold Star Project, Peter shares the critical problems he has seen new SaaS founders run into again and again.
If you're thinking about becoming a SaaS founder, or are one who is struggling to find customers, this interview will show you the big issues between you and having a scaling business. And they are typically things you should consider before you begin your SaaS business...not when you're in the middle of it and stuck.
Talk to Cold Star Tech: http://bit.ly/talktocoldstar

I've had so many conversations with business owners and business brokers, and found:
+ the owners are confused about why the brokers don't value their businesses as high as they thought they would...
+ and the brokers are frustrated that the owners believe someone would give any value to a sloppy and undocumented business with no repeatable processes written down.
Just because your business has been around for some years is no cause for valuation at all. If you can't hand that business to another person and expect them to get the same results you did in a repeatable way, you haven't created value in regards to the sale of your business.
John Garuti III is a business broker I've known for some time and keep running into through my contacts. So I'm having him on the Cold Star Project to explain what brokers are looking for when they're developing a valuation figure for a business.
Owners, listen up! In this episode is your path to the valuation of your business you imagined when you started out on your entrepreneurial journey. You'll hear from John Garuti III the pitfalls and the boosters of business valuation in the world of selling and buying businesses. If you think he's a fit for you, connect with John on LinkedIn.

What at first seemed like a straightforward infrastructure upgrade for this clipart image sales firm turned into a nightmare.
Brad Gosse of Vector Toons was stuck trying to find a way to scale the storage and delivery functions for sales of his cartoon images, and WordPress had broken. WooCommerce was no longer doing the job.
And it turned out this problem was far more complex and challenging than anyone realized...including "experts" who said they'd figured out the way to solve it. Scaling WordPress for over one million images turned out to be a project failure.
Join us for an in-depth explanation of the problems in breaking WordPress as a sales and delivery website for media files, and what it took to find an effective solution at scale.
Brad started with around 30,000 images and is now over 3 million: imagine the strain this put on his IT infrastructure as he found his accelerator.
Talk to Cold Star Tech to discuss solutions to scaling in your business: http://bit.ly/talktocoldstar

Jason Kanigan of Cold Star Tech is on to talk about the recent increase in the price of Facebook and other platform advertising.
Prompted by past guest Ken Cesar, and the change of the marketplace as it matures, Jason shares what he believes you should be doing as a business owner to stay alive. The costs of advertising are going to increase...and the complexity and time necessary to gain an ROI-positive customer will continue to rise: what will you do to ensure your business is around next year?
You need to get more out of what you've got. Generating more leads is not the answer. Converting more of the leads you are paying for is.
We look at conversion improvement methods such as:
-using an indoctrination funnel
-getting out of the groupthink of dashboards
-documenting and refining your processes
and more!
Need help with what we've talked about in this episode? Talk to Cold Star: http://bit.ly/talktocoldstar

What's needed next for the people of Earth to kickstart space infrastructure?
The host of what I consider to be the best "Space explainer" channel on YouTube, Science and Futurism with Isaac Arthur, joins us here on the Cold Star Project to share his knowledge.
-Power production
-Asteroid mining
-The legalities of interactions in space
-Smallsats
-Space stations
and even unusual space advertising are discussed.
Are you interested in the business of Space? Then stay tuned to this podcast and Jason Kanigan.
Book a time to talk to Cold Star Tech: http://bit.ly/talktocoldstar
And check out Isaac's amazing channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZFipeZtQM5CKUjx6grh54g

Young founders, particularly in tech and SaaS, are turning themselves into COOs instead of CEOs.
The mistake here is this unconscious choice turns you into someone who works IN your business instead of ON your business.
I explain what the true role of the founder/CEO is, and how you can free up your time and energy by making the conscious choice to get a Chief of Staff into the COO role.
What you think you should be doing are NOT the decisions and activities that are effective as a founder/CEO.
Recommended book: Chief of Staff by Tyler Parris
If you're ready to talk to us at Cold Star Tech to get clarity on your business, use this link: http://bit.ly/talktocoldstar

Working with European and North American SaaS firms, Stephen Lowisz of 21 LEAP provides the sales systems and personnel to ignite fast growth.
You should be looking to grow your revenue by at least $1.2 million to work with Stephen's organization.
The entire lead nurturing sequence to get the prospect ready to talk to a live human being is also in 21 LEAP's scope. Automation without the perception of spam is the result, as Stephen segments large prospect lists into different and relevant pain points.
Talk to Cold Star: http://bit.ly/talktocoldstar

Crowlspace.com blogger and Space expert Adam Crowl is back on the Cold Star Project with Jason Kanigan, and this time we're digging into the Breakthrough Starshot initiative.
Many improvements and technologies are planned to result from this proof-of-concept project to send a fleet of lightsail vessels to Alpha Centauri. Each of 100,000 tiny ships will require:
Cameras
Processors
Photon thrusters
Battery
Protective coating
Lightsail.
A laser battery will provide the initial thrust.
Details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Starshot
Is it time to discover the hidden challenges and opportunities in your business? Book a call with Cold Star Tech at bit.ly/talktocoldstar

Applicant Pro founder Ryan Kohler is on the Cold Star Project, and the way he scaled to $13.5 million ARR will surprise you.
Pushing back against the conventional wisdom of "finding pain points and solving a problem your target market admits to having," Ryan found success with his recruiting industry app in an unusual way. Instead of looking at the more obvious direct connections and what users said was important, he investigated the ways stakeholders were actually using (or not using) the app.
And that lead to some critical discoveries...and a lot of revenue.
Ryan's story is a powerful scaling tale because it demonstrates how user adoption is often driven by hidden motivations...and that the customer does not always know what's in their best interests--or even what they truly want.
Join us for a discussion that will give you new ideas of where to look for the clues of success. Your business awareness level will be raised!
Talk to Cold Star: http://bit.ly/talktocoldstar

We act (or fail to act) based on what we believe to be true.
Bruce Lee said, "Defeat is a state of mind; No one is ever defeated until defeat has been accepted as a reality.”
He's also quoted in a Bob Proctor training as having said to learn his martial arts knowledge, his students (that's you) first had to get rid of their own.
Jason Kanigan of Cold Star Technologies shares two important examples of how we are fed images that produce emotional responses, and so-called "facts" we blindly accept. Examples like these produce action or inaction responses from you, and as long as they are in control, you lose. To scale your business and reach the next revenue plateau, you must move through the Valley of Death as described by Verne Harnish: if you don't change how you are doing what you're doing, your business will die.
And to change how you're doing what you're doing, you need to change the ideas behind those actions.
The truth is that most of us never stop to inspect ideas. We receive them and automatically respond based on our cognitive biases. But these filters are subconscious, and we are under their control.
If we chose to treat the dominant ideas in our mind with more awareness, we could regain some of that control.
The factors explained in this episode are critical to your ability to scale. To get a fresh, outside perspective on your business, book a time to talk with us at http://bit.ly/talktocoldstar

Whether the term is "Define," at the beginning of Attila's 'DOITS' process, or "Select," at the start of the 'SREDIM' problem solving methodology, the first thing you do in process improvement is critical.
Your precise choice of what to work on is a factor more important than any other: what you choose to focus on will determine the impact, success or failure of your improvement project.
Attila Dobai, a Manager of Strategy and Innovation at Avis and six sigma black belt mentor, is on the Cold Star Project to discuss with Cold Star Tech founder Jason Kanigan the massive importance of choosing your improvement subject wisely.
Playlist:
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Subscribe:
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Book a call with the experts at Cold Star:
http://bit.ly/talktocoldstar

What does it take to charge a $50K setup fee for working with your firm? Jim Padilla of Gain The Edge is on the Cold Star Project to share his experience and the details of what it takes to do so.
* the value
* the mindset
* the sale you first have to make to yourself
* the credibility elements
* the process necessary to work with the buyer
are key and all explained in this episode. Just wanting to bill big fees is not enough: you need to have several pieces of the puzzle in place to be able to take this impactful step.
Book a call with the experts at Cold Star: http://bit.ly/talktocoldstar

"If you are not growing, if you are struggling to find clients or actually get something out of your partnerships and relationships, then you aren’t doing a good enough job making it clear what you do best."
TJ Gamble of Jamersan specializes in enterprise ecommerce development, but started in a geographic location nowhere near anything. In two decades of running his business, he's figured out how to develop trust with people far away from his location, and how they buy.
Geographic proximity can be a huge factor in recommendations and referrals, so getting around this issue was key to TJ's success. Specialization and partnerships, he discovered, were the tools to get the clients he wanted.
"Understanding the psychology of positioning and niching and that it’s just all about being memorable is probably the biggest thing I wished I had learned earlier in my career. All the experts say to niche, but no one really explains why too well." Join TJ to hear what he wishes he'd been told ages ago.
To get focus on your own specialization or partnership questions, book a call with us at Cold Star Tech: https://www.coldstartech.com

Right Hook Digital partner Scott Seward is on the Cold Star Project to share what it took to build his agency to consistently well over $200K MRR. It's a story with mergers & acquisitions, realization that the internal processes were not up to further growth, contrarian thinking in lengthening rather than shortening the sales process, and a lot more.
Agency work is not just about sales, and Scott has learned this lesson well. The right systems need to be in place to support those sales figures, or else customers will leave when fulfillment of the service is lacking.
If you're ready to get serious about your processes and systems, talk to us at Cold Star Tech https://www.coldstartech.com

In the beginning you'll cobble together a solution for your customer's problem, using a patchwork of apps and systems. But if you're solving a genuinely important problem for your target market, you'll soon discover this is no longer good enough: it's inefficient, clumsy, and frankly unappealing. When you arrive at that moment, what will you do?
Jonathan Kiekbusch of SEO Butler knew he not only could but had to improve the infrastructure of his solution, so he would be able to provide a much better experience and outcome for his customers. The answer was to invest a significant amount of cash into a complete redesign of the company's website...and the systems behind it.
Jonathan says: We founded SEOButler 4 years ago, as a totally bootstrapped startup, originally on Opencart, which to no surprise was a total mess.
Originally we started with just a couple of digital products/services. As customer and order volumes grew quickly we started to consider moving platform. Eventually we moved to Wordpress/Woocommerce.
Over the years we grew significantly and kept applying patches / plasters to the site in order to continue to make it run. It started to crumble around us.
Our website seobutler.com couldn't handle customer volumes, complex processes and other complexities, basically resulting in us not being able to maximize our earning potential.
Site load times were through the roof; same with bounce rates. Lots of issues.
We track our support tickets, and discovered the volume of tickets related to bugs on the old site kept increasing.
We also started interviewing customers to identify exactly what it was that they weren't happy with.
Identifying processes that caused friction with our customers was a huge learning point.
Eventually we gave in and decided to completely rebuild the website from scratch, investing over $30,000 to work with experts: hiring a special designer, specialist developers for both front and backend and doing it “the right way.”
Initially the experience was “painful” because we always undervalued our main way of creating revenue for the business. But now that the project is almost completed (we are in public beta), we are so grateful that we finally made the decision to go this route.
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Listen in on our discussion and discover not only what point you might be in a similar situation, needing to bite the bullet and create a significant upgrade to your capabilities and solution, but also what huge benefits there are to making this kind of investment.
Is it time to talk about what improvements you could be making to your product infrastructure--to give your customers a fantastically better experience and you a smoother, more profitable operation? Let's talk! Book a call with the experts at Cold Star Tech: https://www.coldstartech.com

Sure, you can go around identifying symptoms and taking actions to resolve them. But you're not identifying or reaching or handling the root problem.
Jason Kanigan of Cold Star Technologies gives a clear example of how focusing on handling symptoms, and not digging to find the root cause problem, is not only a waste of resources...but may actually hurt people.
The things we think are problems are frequently only surface level symptoms of those deeper problems. It's easier than you think to get distracted and make this error.
We also look at a proven problem solving methodology, so you can get the idea of how to use it in your business.
Ready to have outside expert perspective look at your situation? Book a call with us at bit.ly/talktocoldstar

Attila Dobai is Manager of Strategy and Innovation at Avis, the vehicle rental company. I thought this would be an ossified industry--after all, it has been around forever--but was surprised at how interested they are in continuous improvement. There are about 50 six sigma improvement professionals there.
Attila is on the Cold Star Project to share details of an innovation he has recently made at Avis, giving access to a new distribution channel for truck rentals with a major retailer. We also discuss his proprietary DOITS continuous improvement methodology.
Attila says: Continuous improvement started in manufacturing. Problems with efficiency and effectiveness in manufacturing are commonly solved using methods such as DMAIC (six sigma), SCORE (LEAN), TQM, or with the Toyota Production System. These systems are great at solving problems in manufacturing and have seen some success in service or transactional based businesses.
Traditional problem solving methods for efficiency and effectiveness in service or transactional businesses are difficult to implement and sustain or scale. They often focus solely on cost reduction thus missing opportunities for real growth.
I have developed the DOITS method for continuous improvement in service/transactional businesses.
DOITS stands for:
Define - define the problem to be solved and the optimal problem solving method (fire fighting or stop gap, efficiency/effectiveness improvement to margin, or innovation).
Observe - observe the problem and identify potential root causes in context.
Improve - start improving with a mentality that failure is ok. We want small rapid failure to discover the best solution.
Test - Test the improvement using solid data analytics. Did the improvement drive the desired outcome.
Sustain/Scale - If your goal is to maintain an improvement then implement methods to sustain it and scale it for the rest of the business. If your goal is to grow then implement methods to scale the solution beyond your business.
Continuous improvement implementations in service/transactional businesses seem to have a lifespan that is shorter than their manufacturing peers. I believe this is because service and transactional businesses solutions are more centered in human behavior.
Business owners/executives may feel that traditional continuous improvement fails to deliver improvement over the long term or they may feel that it puts them on a race to the bottom. They may feel like traditional CI disavows the intuition that they have relied on to get to where they are. I recommend the DOITS system for CI for businesses that want to drive growth and scale.
If you're ready for the transformation having clarity on your processes and being able to put your finger on the areas needing improvements will bring to your business, we should speak. Book a call with us at http://bit.ly/talktocoldstar

Derek Schmidt lives in the same town I do, so we were able to meet in person! For the first time we have an on-location shoot for the Cold Star Project, and we're talking about Swell Systems. Swell is an integrated business management solution: marketing, sales, and customer relationships.
You'll learn how and why Derek created Swell, first as an internal system for solving problems his business had--and that means it's designed right for you, because it wasn't done in an ivory tower.
Is it time to talk with the professionals about your internal systems? Book a call with us at https://www.coldstartech.com

TurnOnDynamics founder Peter Joeckel is on the Cold Star Project to share the disturbing truth about ERP sales processes and implementation projects: they're broken. And SaaS founders will recognize exactly the same problems occurring in their field.
No ERP implementation project ever had a bad demo...but that doesn't make the system a good match-up for solving the customer's problem. Peter Joeckel covers the serious issues with RFQ, bid document, presentation-dependent, and features-heavy sales and purchasing processes, and how these result in bad projects.
Is it time for you to get serious about the systems and processes in your company? Do you want to get to the bottom of what's wrong with your operations? Then book a call to talk with us at Cold Star Tech at coldstartech.com

FreeeUp co-founder Nathan Hirsch is on the Cold Star Project to share his challenges encountered during scaling his Virtual Assistants marketplace business.
When the original back end systems can't keep with the front end user demand, what do you do?
Nathan says: " I'm sure you have used the other marketplaces like Upwork and Fiverr. I built my first company to over twenty million in sales using freelancers and I always wanted a faster way. I built FreeeUp to address the frustrations I had. FreeeUp receives hundreds of freelancer applicants each week to join the marketplace.
"We interview and vet them, take the top 1% (based on skill, attitude and communication), and make them available to our clients quickly whenever they need them. On the backend, we have 24/7 support to make sure people have a good experience. Lastly, we have a no turnover guarantee covering replacement costs if the freelancer ever quits. We have been growing rapidly since we started three years ago and work with thousands of business all over the world. "
If you're ready for champion corporate systems to improve the operations of your business, we should speak. Book a call at https://www.coldstartech.com

Celene Hoag is the "glue" holding a fast-growing white label content creation business together.
Like any other relatively young business, Anansi Content Solutions faced growing pains moving from being a small agency of a couple of people primarily working “in” the business to a larger team of five and working “on” the business.
Figuring out who to hire next, going through periods of being super swamped and over-capacity, then increasing the team (which incurs other expenses and training time) caused cashflow issues because they suddenly had one more mouth to feed. And the project load didn’t magically increase to accommodate the new person.
They also had a string of virtual assistants (VAs) coming and going due to a series of random occurrences so that took a lot of extra energy to continuously hire and train people.
Doing everything themselves, while simultaneously trying to build the foundation of the business, clearly didn't work effectively. They knew where they were at, and had a clear picture of where they wanted to be, but really struggled with what the path from point A to point B looked like.
Two main things have helped Anansi grow so quickly and smoothly:
1. Having so many detailed processes mapped out for tasks, divided by projects, admin and sales.
Having processes clearly documented also allows new team members to step into their roles much quicker because instead of spending training time showing them how to do basic things, Celene can spend it showing them how to do them really well, and also answering their questions.
Being able to invite partners to the Teamwork app on their projects and have them see the backend is an added bonus, because they see just how detail-oriented and organized Anansi is. This has a big impact on trust.
2. From Brent Weaver from UGurus was the concept of structuring the business around a Single Scalable Seat. This means having a single role which you can measure cashflow and capacity around, and easily scale up or down by adding or removing people.
If you want the clarity and effectiveness of having processes like those described in this interview, book a call at coldstartech.com

The next step for humanity is to become a spacefaring society. What kinds of things should we expect to be necessary as we make that transformation?
The author of blog Crowlspace.com joins us on the Cold Star Project to answer questions about the importance of space exploration, and what our first priority should be in Near Earth activity.
Is it time for creative problem solving in your business? Do you finally want to recover your time and put your finger on the real problem? Talk to us at coldstartech.com

"Extruded Book Product" may be a bad-sounding phrase but it's great business!
Ever heard of The Hardy Boys...Nancy Drew...The Bobsey Twins? These and many more were series produced according to a strict formula for an eager target market of children by an army of ghostwriters. Created by one man over a hundred years ago, the Stratemeyer Syndicate is a model for those wanting to create a scalable content creation business today.
Listen in and discover the elements of Stratemeyer's successful formula and how he created a book empire that lasted well over 85 years.
If you're eager to talk to us and come up with some ideas for creating a similar concept for your business, book a call at coldstartech.com

Information used to be the core deliverable for a consulting company. Companies were paid simply to give advice and make suggestions.
The traditional (billable hour) generalist consulting company is fundamentally inefficient. Too much competition and too many complex problems. You can’t just throw bodies at the problem and figure it out as you go.
Consulting companies are now asked to be execution partners. They are asked to share in the risk of the project.
Consulting companies have to find a profitable way of operating in a new competitive landscape. When information/analysis can no longer be the core deliverable, and hourly-based pricing is incredibly difficult to scale, what should you do?
If there is one specific mechanic that changes all of these dynamics...it is the productized service.
1 - It promises a clear deliverable in advance. The knows what they are buying.
2 - It easier to manage a project than it is to manage billable hours.
The pressure (pain) is found in the daily operations of a consulting company:
- Bad sales calls. Lots of talking. No one buys.
-Custom proposals and RFP process. Constant guesswork on both sides (client/consultant)
-Scope creep. Vague projects get more vague.
-Clients don’t follow directions. They (un)intentionally do things to damage the project.
Have you ever asked "how to turn my service into a product"?
Watch this interview episode of the Cold Star Project with Alzay Calhoun, the Coveted Consultant founder, for answers on how to productize your business to scale.
Is it time to put your finger on the true problem in your business? Get the Red Team: https://www.coldstartech.com/red-team/

Marcel Petitpas, co-founder of Parakeeto, joins us on the Cold Star Project to talk about what happens as you grow your agency and realize the deeper level of tracking you need.
You'll discover all the data you need to see critical agency KPIs are spread out between a bunch of different tools:
- Timesheets in a time tracking tool (Toggl or Harvest)
- Expenses, Payroll, OPEX in accounting (Quickbooks or Xero)
- Budgets & proposals in spreadsheets in google drive
- Resource plans in another tool or spreadsheet
- Sales pipeline in a CRM
- Project status reports in a PM tool
and more.
Trying to bring all this data together in a spreadsheet to calculate Utilization, Profitability, and do any level of forecasting for resources or finances will be a real administrative burden. And the existing tools in the marketplace to help you do so are both expensive and few and far between.
That's where Parakeeto is coming in. All this data needs to be turned into information you can use to make decisions. Not just a dashboard, but a tool you can calculate with after it collects the data. And most importantly, you need to become aware that this problem is going to happen to you as you scale.
Is it time to talk to the experts of scaling from 12 - 500 people at Cold Star? Book a call at www.coldstartech.com

Can't you just "hire a commission salesperson"? What happens when you try to scale your sales team? If it's been All-You so far, the founder acting as the sole salesperson for the business, what challenges will you run into when you try to change that? Jon Paramore is here to answer these questions and show you the missing steps in finding great salespeople.
SCALING YOUR SALES TEAM
Sourcing the right salesperson is not an easy task. Despite many business owners feeling their sense of discernment is good, hiring mismatches often occur when they try to bring in someone for their sales team. Good talkers in interviews frequently do not translate into powerful performers...there's a gap between what the candidate says and what they actually do on the job.
HIRING SALES REPS
Listen in and get a great education on what it takes to attract genuine salespeople who get results for your business.
Is it time to talk to the experts of scaling from 12 - 500 people at Cold Star? Book a call at www.coldstartech.com

The founder of the SaaS Growth Hacks group on Facebook, Aaron Krall, is here to share his definition of Onboarding...and how that process can be used to fuel the growth of your tech firm.
Too many founders operate in isolation, creating a solution for a problem no one else acknowledges. Tech marketing also concentrates on features, which the majority of the buying marketplace does not understand. Aaron shows you how to get a different result by focusing on what your customers are actuall saying--instead of what you believe to be valuable.
SaaS Growth Hacks facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/SaaSgrowthhacking/
Is it time to talk to the experts of scaling from 12 - 500 people at Cold Star? Book a call at www.coldstartech.com

"I love the mind mapping idea," is a comment I frequently hear when I'm explaining process mapping to a new audience. But they're not the same thing, and this is my attempt to explain the difference.
To me, mind maps are subjective conceptualizing, creating space to fill in, and finding out what's important to you about a topic. Process mapping is a much more tactical, much more objective step-by-step diagrams of how things actually work in your business.
Is it time to get the process experts at Cold Star Tech working for you? Book a call with us to find out at coldstartech.com

In this solo episode of the Cold Star Project, founder Jason Kanigan explores an example of perverse incentives. The Belgian Congo and atrocities committed there in the name of good accounting are today's topic.
Also covered are modern examples of perverse incentives, and eight points from a Forbes article on how to develop good performance measures that result in behaviors you want. It's all too easy to accidentally create a KPI or measure that results in bad behavior.
Look for the Humans WILL Game episode for the factory production scam example.
Is it time to talk to the experts of scaling from 12 - 500 people at Cold Star? Book a call at www.coldstartech.com

The guy who wrote the book on Infusionsoft, Sales Whisperer Wes Schaeffer, is my guest on the Cold Star Project. "What CRM Should I Get?" is a question we've both heard unrelentingly over the past half-decade. Wes has an answer, and it's not what you think.
Demystifying the selection process is key to your success: don't get sucked in by feature-rich promises of an app you may never appropriately use...but still pay full price for.
Wes' "Process Before Login" video and map:
https://www.thesaleswhisperer.com/pbl
Is it time to talk to the experts of scaling from 12 - 500 people at Cold Star? Book a call at www.coldstartech.com

Mikaels Labs founder Harry Kanistik is here on the Cold Star Project to share how machine learning and AI are being used to grow businesses.
"AI" in particular is a buzzword these days and frequently misapplied in the effort to make marketing sound cool. Harry's firm is on a mission to help companies scale with real machine learning and AI solutions, so listen in to hear what those terms really mean.
Is it time to talk to the experts of scaling from 12 - 500 people at Cold Star? Book a call at www.coldstartech.com

In large organizations there are "gravity wells" of power bases...and different agendas being run by different departments. Cold Star Tech founder Jason Kanigan gives an example from his past work experience in leading an organization out of an unethical time and into one where standards were consistently upheld.
On the way, friction between departments and agendas caused much difficulty. With this example on the Cold Star Project, we hope to demonstrate the kinds of issues you'll run into in trying to make similar changes happen.
To get clarity on the issues your company faces, book a time to talk at https://www.coldstartech.com

Matt Kurleto has built a tech business of over 60 staff...and he has a lot to share about what to do at what stage in development of your organization. Join us on the Cold Star Project to hear inside info about the challenges of scaling that you won't hear anywhere else.
More about Matt Kurleto at mattkurleto.com
Get the help to scale--and find out what stage you're at--with a conversation with the Cold Star Tech Red Team: https://www.coldstartech.com/red-team/

CEO of $50 million software firm Datastorm and outsourced CMO Stephen Monaco joins us on the Cold Star Project to share his expertise on Voice of Customer programs.
If you don't have a VoC program, you need to start working on yours right now.
If you do have one, you should speak to Stephen to find out how you could be getting more impact with it.
When it comes to knowing the right step in marketing, feature design, product development and more, Voice of Customer programs are the engine of profitable growth.
Is it time to talk to the experts of scaling from 12 - 500 people at Cold Star? Book a call at https://www.coldstartech.com

Lior Ohayon, founder of ScopeLeads, is on the Cold Star Project to share his experience with founding a prospecting saas. Revenue generation requires active, consistent, focused activity, and Lior digs into how to:
- know when somebody wants what you're thinking about making
- keep focused on the actual prospecting time required
- retain offer/solution focus as a product creator in the face of
support desk-driven feature creep threat.
For an assessment of your organization's operational and scaling infrastructure visit https://www.coldstartech.com/red-team/

SaaS Sales Process Scaling consultant Patrick Lavergne joins us on the Cold Star Project to share his experiences in helping startups grow fast.
Pat Lavergne concentrates on startup SaaS, which is a smaller size of firm than Cold Star Tech typically focuses upon. This is a powerful look into what it takes to burst out of the 'hustle and grind' mentality of startups and into a more formalized operation that gets consistent, repeatable results.
When you get past this point, talk to us at Cold Star Technologies about operational excellence: https://www.coldstartech.com/red-team/

Channel strategist Stewart Townsend joins us on the Cold Star Project to share stories from both the low and the high perspective in scaling SaaS. As a front line salesperson with a well-known SaaS, and then as a strategic channel consultant, Stewart has much to tell us about the challenges of scaling tech firms.
Want to find out what you've got? Get the Red Team Experience: https://www.coldstartech.com/red-team/

What's the problem with relying exclusively on walkthrough demonstrations of features for Software-as-a-Service? Cold Star Tech illuminates the number one SaaS demo sales-killer observed over the past decade.
Then we look back at the mature SaaS VAR industry and what happened to it in the cataclysmic years of 2009-11 following the 2008 economic meltdown. Lessons from that period are applicable to today's Internet Marketing-driven SaaS field as it matures.

Under-30 Ken Cesar describes the true challenges in scaling to seven figures, which he has achieved twice so far...first in a cash flow (agency) business and second in a wealth builder (ecommerce) business.
While some people may brag and make a course about hitting say $30K in sales, Ken knows that is a tiny revenue amount in the real world. He's here to share the brutal truth about what's really required to make it in business. Expect stories and information you won't have heard in the bizopp space--that is feeding you mindless enthusiasm instead of Ken's cold, hard truth.

The sales problems SaaS firms had in 2007 persist today! It's as if nobody has learned anything over the past decade. In this episode of the Cold Star Project, we investigate a fascinating example of marketing that resulted in significant operational change.
Marketers and salespeople, in addition to SaaS and tech company founders, will find a unique point of view and great value in this discussion.

Ben Watkins of Intrinsic Executive Search is here to share the challenges of hiring as your tech firm is scaling fast. We discover just how quickly the job description you were hiring for becomes outdated if your business is growing fast...and what you must be doing as a founder or CEO to keep pace.
Concentrating on the San Francisco area and Europe, Ben Watkins focuses on helping scale emerging High Growth Software / SAAS firms.

Brightmill founder Taz Lake specializes in identifying and fixing all the things that could go wrong with your website and data as you scale. In the rush to grow, tech pieces get left behind and quickly become outdated.
Serious vulnerabilities and damaged capabilities ensue...only for the business to find out about it when something badly breaks. From website security problems exploited by hackers (think Target, Equifax) to government regulatory changes, Taz knows the challenges that might blindside you and your customers through your website.
If you want an organization-wide status check of vulnerabilities in your business, get the Red Team Experience from Cold Star Tech: https://www.coldstartech.com/red-team/

You have your blinders on when it comes to where you'd get your biggest bang for your buck in improvement projects! Sure, the bonfires are attention-getting and put off a lot of heat and smoke--
--but let me me make this crystal clear: You've been living with them all this time until now.
No matter how bright, scary, and smoky they may be, the tire fires are not the biggest contributor to the success or failure of your business. If they were, you'd be out of business by now.
No...the secret is somewhere else. Listen in and I'll tell you where.
Should we speak to find out where your biggest bang for your buck in improvement projects is? Book a call at https://www.coldstartech.com/red-team/

The founder of Hello Process, Matt Daniell, is here not only to share his experience in the value of processes in scaling, but also a story of outright theft going on right under the nose of the accounting department of one of the biggest American railways.
Humans Will Game, as I said in another podcast...and Matt has stories to share about what founders ought to be doing instead of fighting fires and trying to tackle everything themselves.
If your business is at under $500K ARR, you should speak with Matt about Hello Process. If you're above that figure, especially at the $2million ARR mark or greater, talk to us at Cold Star Tech about the Red Team Experience: https://www.coldstartech.com/red-team/

Convertri founder Andy Fletcher shares all the challenges of scaling a saas to $500K ARR...the lead generation, the payment processing, the operations, and more...
If you see the need to get a leg up on this kind of stuff BEFORE you're immersed in the mire of scaling, get the Red Team Experience. Book a call to discuss your situation at https://www.coldstartech.com/red-team/

My previous co-founder, Jeremy Pope of The Closing Engine, joins me on this episode of the Cold Star Project for a fun and relaxed discussion. We dig into the critical importance of knowing your culture, and its impact on hiring decisions.
You cannot hire willy-nilly...and you WILL make mistakes.
The Closing Engine manages third party sales teams for offers of $6000 and up. And if you think that's easy, you've got another thing coming.

What you think is a Tech problem is always a People problem. Companies with three letter initials have been around a long time, trying to create little clones of themselves with their technology--and yet the same problems they say they eradicate still exist! Why? Because they are not getting at the source of the issue. In fact, the technological "solutions" are often causing more people problems! Listen to this episode of the Cold Star Project for a surprising example.

Your business has weak points. One of them may be you. Remember the CEO of Uber?
Jason Kanigan of the Cold Star Project takes you on a quick tour of leaders who appeared to be in unassailable positions...but were knocked down only a short time later. A warning for all founders: strong governments are inherently unstable.

In this episode of the Cold Star Project we dig into the fascinating lives of the Gilbreths. Together with Taylor they are the "parents" of scientific management and time & motion studies.
If you're going to enhance your knowledge of operations improvement, ergonomics, and productivity, you need to know about Frank and Lillian Gilbreth.

Like electricity, television, and smart phones, people make use of their business without understanding it. How much do you really know about what goes on, and how you and your people accomplish it?
Consistent results and fast scaling come from full understanding of how things are done in your company. In this episode of the Cold Star Project, we look at many examples of things commonly used by people who don't understand them. Can you do that? Sure. Is it optimal? Nope.
What are you giving up by not understanding the things you use? The path to scaling fast is accomplished by knowing how you do what you do, and demanding consistent standards of behavior and results.

Create a scoring system for anything--production, sales, whatever--and people WILL game it so they are shown in the best possible light and given the most results. Jason Kanigan shares a deep level example of gaming piecework production and rewards in a factory to demonstrate.
Do not think because you hired nice people that they aren't gaming the system. And don't blame them, either: you set the rules. They're just doing what humans--what you--would do.
Cold Star Technologies has, in the course of investigating and documenting processes, uncovered many scams, misrepresentations, and cases of outright theft in client organizations. Do not believe you are immune. Humans WILL game.

As the founder of a fast-scaling business, you must make the highest best use of your time. But what does that even mean? Jason Kanigan, host of the Cold Star Project, gives several examples.
Founders should not be doing front line, technical functions. You need to be focused on leading the team, developing strategic partnerships, and driving revenue. Executive time being badly used is one of the biggest problems we see at Cold Star that is blocking tech firms from scaling fast. Don't underestimate it.

As you scale and your team grows, what unexpected challenges arise? We love online collaboration tools that allow instantaneous communication between remote team members, for instance...but what happens when you get four or more individuals in a Slack channel? Turns out you can't get anything important done.
Listen to this episode of the Cold Star Project in which Jason Kanigan explains the Deep Work-killing surprises that strike companies that are scaling fast.
Paul Graham's Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule post: http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html

You've got a startup, and need to drive revenue--but how long can you wait for SEO to kick in? You can't wait. You need leads NOW. And the topic of how to get them is what Competitors.app founder Razvan Girmacea discusses with Jason Kanigan in this episode of the Cold Star Project.
No one can scale without leads.

Founder of The Coaching Jungle (group on Facebook) Marc Mawhinney grew a real estate agency to over 100 people...only to have it all blown away. What triggers, warning signs, events did he go through that you as a founder should know about so you can recognize when it's time to quit? Marc's story will tell you.
And then his comeback tale will inspire you to keep taking action in scaling your business!

CTO of Kyvio (know your visitors inside and out) Steven Peijl joins Jason Kanigan to share the power of processes in scaling from 7 to 8 figures. You can't simply be doing "double of the same" to make a leap like that: you must be doing different things and things differently. By recording your process steps, you achieve consistency...and there is a way to get conformity in results without killing innovation.

Health industry marketing and tech whiz Andy Greene shares a seriously cautionary tale of arrogance and self-destruction in the world of SaaS. Just because you CAN make a product does not mean you SHOULD. This lack of matching solution to problem, message to market, is a real problem in the SaaS world: founders go out and expend resources creating a solution nobody wanted. Then they struggle to sell it, and the audience just doesn't care.
You can avoid these deadly problems--listen to Andy Greene as he's interviewed by Jason Kanigan on the Cold Star Project!